A happy, fluffy romance featuring a positive and genuine portrayal of an Iranian-American Queer girl in high school. Leila falls for new girl Saskia and grows close to theater friends including gay Tomas.
Publisher’s Description:
High-school junior Leila has made it most of the way through Armstead Academy without having a crush on anyone, which is something of a relief. Her Persian heritage already makes her different from her classmates; if word got out that she liked girls, life would be twice as hard. But when a sophisticated, beautiful new girl, Saskia, shows up, Leila starts to take risks she never thought she would, especially when it looks as if the attraction between them is mutual. Struggling to sort out her growing feelings and Saskia’s confusing signals, Leila confides in her old friend, Lisa, and grows closer to her fellow drama tech-crew members, especially Tomas, whose comments about his own sexuality are frank, funny, wise, and sometimes painful. Gradually, Leila begins to see that almost all her classmates are more complicated than they first appear to be, and many are keeping fascinating secrets of their own.
Genre: Contemporary
Representation:
Gender:
Cis girls: Leila, Saskia
Sexual Orientation:
Lesbian/Queer: Leila
Bisexual: Saskia (doesn’t explicitly label herself this)
Romantic Orientation:
Not explicitly addressed.
Race/Ethnicity:
Persian-American: Leila
White: Saskia
Trigger Warnings:
Biphobia/Bimisia
Additional Notes: There are a few scenes where Saskia uses slurs agains Leila.
Ownvoices: Queer, Persian